Heat exchangers, such as parallel flow condensers used in vehicle air conditioning systems, have been manufactured from aluminum components which assembled and then passed through a brazing furnace to braze the components together into a single unit. The components typically include header tanks, refrigerant flow tubes and fin stock. The header tanks and fin stock are brazing clad and will braze to the flow tubes when passed through a brazing furnace. The components are assembled so that the refrigerant flow tubes extend between the header tanks, parallel to one another. The fin stock is aligned to extend between the refrigerant flow tubes, with lengths of the fin stock extending parallel to the refrigerant flow tubes. The assembled components are mounted to a brazing fixture to hold the components in proper alignment as they are passed through the brazing furnace.
Prior art brazing fixtures have metal bars and metal bands for holding the fin stock in alignment with the refrigerant flow tubes. The fin stock is formed from corrugated strips of brazing clad aluminum sheet metal which are flexible and require mechanical support to extend for any significant length between the refrigerant flow tubes. The metal bars and bands of brazing fixtures are spaced apart along the length of the fin stock and refrigerant flow tubes, and will not always adequately support the fin stock. The fin stock can then become misaligned with and extend outward from the refrigerant flow tubes, resulting in a condition called "high fin." If the fin stock protrudes outward from the refrigerant flow tubes beyond acceptable tolerances, it results in an unacceptable defect which will require rework or scrapping of the heat exchangers.